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Defense: Jackson accusers mom a grifter

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

April 19, 2005

Michael Jackson (April 19, 2005)

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Michael Jackson's lawyer wound down his cross-examination of a key witness Monday by portraying her as a greedy grifter who saw Jackson and his celebrity pals as a ticket out of poverty and who used her son's cancer to get cash from them, along with a car, laptop computer, meals out and shopping trips.

In her fourth day on the stand, the witness denied defense attorney Tom Mesereau Jr's. insinuation that she turned down everything from a college education to a turkey and donated blood from people concerned for her son and demanded money instead. "Do you recall ever complaining to anyone ... that a turkey wasn't enough, that you wanted money?" he demanded of the 37-year-old mother of the boy Jackson is accused of molesting. He then asked if she recalled telling a Jackson aide, in response to an offer of college funds, "What good would a college fund be for my kid? He may not be alive in 10 years."

The boy's mother denied it, but she did admit that at least $20,000 given to her by a Los Angeles comedian did not go toward her son. Instead, she said her then-husband, whom she has accused of abusing her, forced her to use the money on food and credit card bills.

The woman has accused Jackson of arranging for her and her three children to be held captive by aides in February and March 2003, as part of an elaborate damage-control scheme launched after the airing of a TV documentary in which Jackson admitted sleeping with children. Appearing in the video with Jackson was her son, then 13, who had met the pop star three years earlier while undergoing cancer treatment. According to the woman, Jackson, 46, was desperate to ensure the family did not do or say anything damaging to his reputation. Prosecutors say the molestation occurred sometime during that captivity at Jackson's Neverland Valley Ranch.

After three fiery days of often incredible testimony, marked by sharp exchanges between the witness and Mesereau, and dramatic gestures and outbursts, Monday's session was tame. However, there were some odd moments. Mesereau got the woman to admit that she had once told sheriff's deputies she feared her children "might disappear in a hot air balloon" from Neverland, a statement she says merely reflected the powerful hold Jackson had on them. She denied accusations that, in an effort to drum up sympathy and get money, she told people that she lived in a stable with horses and that her children scrounged coins from public fountains.

In his questioning, Mesereau made clear he planned to call a litany of witnesses who would contradict her denials. They are expected to include her ex-husband, whose alleged abuse of her came into play at the end of the day when the prosecution showed jurors pictures of her hideously bruised limbs. The woman says the bruises were the result of a brutal beating by store security guards in the late 1990s, which led to a settlement of $152,000. Mesereau has implied the bruises were caused by her spouse and that she only claimed they were caused by security guards as a ploy to win money.